Jack Kirby: The King of Comics

From Marvel to DC, the comic book industry was built by some of the greatest writers and artists of the Golden Age, but nobody stands out quite like Jack Kirby. Having built his career alongside fellow luminaries like Stan Lee, Joe Simon and Carmine Infantino, his unique art style and vision still set the blueprint today. Proving throughout his career that he could notify anything from war stories to cosmic adventure and fantasy, he gave readers a library of instant classics. Even some of the biggest Kirby fans have yet to read everything the artist-writer created during his career, with some sticking to his Marvel work, and others not reading his pre-’70s stories. As much as some would love to crown Stan Lee the man who created 616’s most enduring ideas, his legacy wouldn’t be what it is if not for The King. Over eighty years after his first comics, Jack Kirby is still the greatest comic book creator, and it isn’t even close.

The Demon Melds Horror and Arthurian Legend

After joining DC Comics in 1970, Jack Kirby was surprised to find that it wasn’t his Fourth World that won over readers, but Kamandi and The Demon. In the latter, he told the story of an Arthurian knight, Jason Blood, who was bound to the demon Etrigan, imbuing him with immortality and the power to call on his darker half. The series follows him in the ’70s, where he calls on his hellish half to safeguard the world from supernatural threats. A refreshing break from his more cosmic stories, The Demon pulled Kirby into the world of supernatural horror, something many readers wish he’d have expanded. Today, Etrigan is surprisingly one of the artist’s best-known creations for DC, having starred in some of the company’s greatest stories, from Elseworlds to Swamp Thing adventures.

New Gods Unofficially Concluded Kirby’s Thor Run

One of Kirby’s first creations for DC Comics was his New Gods saga. Having been unable to conclude his Thor run the way he wanted, he used the beginning of this story as an unofficial sequel to his Marvel story. In the aftermath of the death of the Old Gods in Ragnarök, a new race of New Gods is born: the evil forces of Darkseid on the planet Apokolips against the heroes of New Genesis under the rule of Highfather. Even more than his Thor work, New Gods blended science fiction and fantasy masterfully, toying with various mythologies to form the basis of a unique superhero story. Following the stories of characters like Orion and Lightray in their search for Darkseid gave DC some of its most powerful characters. Fifty years later, Darkseid is still his most lasting legacy at DC, and one of the strongest villains in comics.

The Eternals Brought Cosmic Fantasy Back to Marvel

After unleashing his Fourth World upon DC readers, Kirby returned to Marvel to craft his Eternals series, another cosmic fantasy that shared DNA with New Gods. This series crafted a brand-new mythology for Earth, one in which humanity’s creation stems from Celestials. Their evolution was guided and protected by the Eternals, angelic heroes also created by the Celestials, and tasked with defending others from the Deviants, monstrous beings who also inhabit the world. Influenced by the same source material that gives audiences the likes of Ancient Aliens, Eternals tries to square the mysteries of humanity’s past with Marvel’s superhero mythologies. The series was New Gods for Marvel fans, something that was as ambitious as it was exciting. Over the years, it’s gone down as one of the artist’s more obscure works from his later career, but it is the pinnacle of the 616’s cosmic side.

OMAC Was DC’s High-Tech Answer to Captain America

During his time at DC, Kirby gave the world his street-level hero OMAC, the One Man Army Corps. By day, he’s an ordinary man named Buddy Blank, but when the mysterious Global Peace Agency calls on him, the Brother Eye satellite upgrades him to a super soldier. Under the protection of his machine guardian, he embarks on a series of missions to safeguard the world from various mad scientists and secret organizations. Kirby’s OMAC series can best be described as containing elements of James Bond, Doom Patrol, and Captain America, merging action and thriller with the oddities of sci-fi. Despite boasting some of the most vibrant and captivating art of Kirby’s career, it’s easily one of his most obscure creations, one DC unfortunately reduced to an Ultron-style gimmick for Infinite Crisis.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a Trippy Experience

After the success of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s film of the same name, Jack Kirby wrote and drew his own 2001: A Space Odyssey story. Taking a break from the decompressed, deep-space thriller, he instead explored other aspects of the story. His series alternates between the species affected by the Monolith and other elevated sci-fi ideas, like simulations and sentient machines. Alongside a direct adaptation of the film as its own graphic novel, the passion Kirby had for the story is evident on every single page. The series has aged beautifully, representing some of the most detailed, intricate art the creator ever made. Every fresh reading gives readers a whole new appreciation for both his talent and the sci-fi genre, and the success of movies like Interstellar shows it still has a place in fiction.

Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth Beat Planet of the Apes at Its Own Game

After migrating to DC, Kirby was asked to deliver the company its own answer to Planet of the Apes when Marvel won the rights to publish its stories, pushing him to create Kamandi. Repurposing an old ’50s short story he’d written, Kirby crafted a futuristic, post-disaster world where humanity was all but extinct. The series follows lone survivor Kamandi as he leaves the safety of an underground bunker to explore the world above, setting him against its sapient animal rulers. The appeal of Kamandi needs no explanation, especially as Planet of the Apes endures as a box office success story. Unfortunately, DC has shown time and again that it simply doesn’t know how to recreate Kirby’s success with the series, leaving it a largely unaltered part of the artist’s legacy. Even today, it’s one of the greatest adventure stories in comic book history, and it revealed the unrelenting imagination of Jack Kirby as he used ancient history as a template for a sci-fi epic.

Thor Became a Silver Age Superhero Icon

Always an admirer of classic mythology, one of Kirby’s crowning achievements at Marvel was his transformation of Norse god Thor into a Silver Age superhero. Beginning with Journey into Mystery, he set about translating the Viking legend into something more modern, giving the hero his alter ego of the mortal human Donald Blake. Mjölnir became his tether to his powers, adding a sense of vulnerability to his story as he defended Earth from cosmic threats. For millions of modern comic book readers and moviegoers, they can’t imagine the gods of Norse mythology, Thor in particular, without picturing Kirby’s designs for them. Not only did he reinvent the mythology beautifully, but he also led the way for generations of other creators in adapting ancient legends to the superhero genre.

The Uncanny X-Men Defined the Marvel Method

As their run on Fantastic Four heated up, Kirby and Lee continued their collaborative winning streak through Uncanny X-Men. Introducing the line-up of Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl under the leadership of Professor X, it borrowed some inspiration from DC’s Doom Patrol. However, in classic Marvel fashion, it proved to be so much more as the creators imbued it with a thriving social conscience over the years. The X-Men were heroes who lived in a world that feared them simply for their genetic nature as mutants, allowing Lee and Kirby to explore real-world social tensions. Of course, their series always delivered escapism, but found a way to reach the hearts of readers in a way that maintained their imaginations and love of the 616. With the X-Men still serving as the universe’s greatest superhero team six decades later, readers owe it all to Lee, and Kirby.

Captain America is Still a Golden Age Masterpiece

In early 1941, the United States teetered on the brink of joining the Allied cause against Nazi Germany during World War II, pushing Jack Kirby and Joe Simon to create Captain America. Nine months before FDR announced the nation’s entry into the conflict, the creative duo gave the nation a symbol to muster support for action. Both Jewish-American creators understood the importance of sending a message against fascism in the best way they knew: through art and inspirational stories. Kirby and Simon’s Captain America Comics run for Timely gave America a champion when they needed one most, a symbol of resistance against the rise of fascism. The series united war, action, science fiction, and adventure under a single banner, inspiring readers to be their best selves. Today, the series is a great example of old-fashioned patriotism as something defined by integrity and action, not simple flag-waving.

The Fantastic Four Made Marvel King of Comics

In 1961, Marvel was incensed to compete with DC when their Justice League title proved to be a runaway success, pushing Stan Lee to create the answer: The Fantastic Four. Working with Jack Kirby, who repurposed elements of his Challengers of the Unknown work for the series, Lee sought to give fans a down-to-earth, relatable type of superhero. These were meant to encapsulate his “world outside your window” vision of comics, and it ushered in a new golden age for the company. For anyone who wants to understand where the Marvel Universe truly began, this run is essential reading. Although Captain America, The Human Torch, and Namor already existed, this series laid down the template that guides writers and artists today. Jack Kirby was the man who made Stan Lee’s ideas go from quality to iconic, and The Fantastic Four is still the ultimate Marvel family six decades later.